Man finds homeless friend of 50 years ago dead in ditch

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- A man who recently discovered a boyhood friend living homeless went looking for him Wednesday in hopes of sharing a Christmas meal.

Instead, John Frost found Howard W. Frazee, 72, dead in the ditch where he had been living.

The coroner said Frazee had died a few days earlier of heart disease.

Frost had spotted Frazee at a bus stop on Dec. 14. They had not seen each other since high school in Mount Vernon, about 20 miles away.

"I asked him where he was living and he pointed to those tarps in the bushes. He said he had a sleeping bag under there," said Frost, also 72.

Police said Frazee had recently been kicked out of a private storage space that he had rented and was living in; the owners feared he would start a fire.

Frost said he had been trying to get Frazee into low-cost housing, and had contacted a sister who told him that she had not heard from Frazee in years and that the family thought he was dead.

On Wednesday, Frost and his son were bringing Frazee clothing and blankets and planned to get him a hot meal.

"We wanted to share a little Christmas with him," said Jeff Frost, 37.

The son climbed through the brush and found his father's friend in a pile of plastic bags and clothes.

John Frost had passed by the night before, but couldn't see anything in the brush and got no response when he called out.

"I had hoped he got into a shelter," he said.